


Second Chances

by celticheart72



Category: Cliffhanger (1993)
Genre: Anger, Angst, Blood and Injury, Complete, Cunnilingus, F/M, Fear of Death, Fear of Major Injury, Gunshot Wounds, Heavy Angst, Injury Recovery, Oral Sex, Partial Nudity, Relationship Discussions, Sex, Smut, Threats of Violence, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-11
Updated: 2019-05-11
Packaged: 2020-03-01 02:26:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18791131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celticheart72/pseuds/celticheart72
Summary: Hal Tucker was devastated after Sarah was killed, but did he really have the woman he was meant to be with right in front of him all along?Fic loosely follows the Cliffhanger storyline. This fic does contain violence and injury as well as smut.THIS FIC IS COMPLETEI do not own any of Cliffhanger, only my own original characters and ideas.





	1. Slip of the Tongue

**Author's Note:**

> WARNINGS FOR THIS CHAPTER: angry Hal, threats against the OC

"Sarah..."

That made you sit up and back away from Hal's mouth. He looked momentarily stunned at what he'd said then looked up at you in horror. "God Emily, I'm sorry! I just..."

You were already up and pulling on your clothes, "It's okay Hal. I get it."

He just sat there on his bed, one knee bent with his arm resting over it, looking as handsome and sexy as he always did. All the man wore was a sleeveless worn gray t-shirt and a pair of black athletic shorts but damn if he didn't make them look like the sexiest pieces of clothing ever. The look on his face was confused and hurt as he watched you. You got the confusion, maybe he thought he was over Sarah, but you didn't get the hurt. It wasn't you who called him by another man's name while you were being intimate. You'd kept telling yourself it was too soon, that he wasn't over Sarah yet, but you failed to listen to that inner voice. Truth be told you knew better, after all he still hadn't forgiven Gabe who had been his best friend for years before Sarah died.

You clasped your bra behind your back and pulled your jacket over it rather than take the time to pull your shirt back on. As you did Hal stood and reached out to you, placating and clearly remorseful, "Emily please, I'm really sorry. It wasn't you..."

Backing out of his reach you looked at him, "I know that now Hal." His eyes looked pained and you weren't sure if he understood what you meant, sighing you shook your head, "I'm not mad at you, just hurt and a little embarassed."

And that was the truth. He'd lost Sarah in a tragic accident, and you were the first woman he'd dated since. Maybe you should have waited a little longer before saying yes but when he asked you over for dinner this time, well, you couldn't say no. After all, you'd been around several years before Sarah, knew Hal fairly well, had been his friend long before feelings were ever involved. You had absolutely nothing against Sarah, but truth be told they were an odd match. She wasn't outdoorsy or adventurous and he wasn't romantic or homebodyish.

"Emily," he emphasized your name as if reminding himself of who you were. "I wanted...want you."

Giving him a half-hearted smile you shook your head and tried your best to hold back the tears and catch in your voice, "No Hal, you don't. At least not right now."

With that you turned and left him in his bedroom. Thankfully you were a mile away from his house before you had to pull over to let the sobbing out. In your thirty-five years rejection had never felt so bad as this one did.

　

It was awkward at first, but you and Hal were able to continue working together in the Park Service. And after a few weeks you were back to the friendship you shared before your failed date and awkward sexual encounter. Though you were left with the memory of just what his tongue could do and really wished he'd said Sarah's name in post-coital bliss rather than a few minutes into the best oral you'd ever had. He didn't ask you out again, and you didn't press the issue. Hopefully once he was past his grief over Sarah's death he'd ask again, hopefully he meant what he said and had genuinely wanted you.

Gabe was still on extended leave which left you, Hal, and Jessie as the only Rangers available to respond to emergency calls from your Ranger Station. Fortunately, you didn't get as many of those as one might think but since Jessie was the secondary helicopter pilot that still left just two experienced climbers available. Hal remained bitter toward Gabe at his failure to save Sarah, and even more bitter at him for not resigning so his position could be replaced.

It was two months after Hal's rejection of you, which was eight months post Sarah's death, that all hell broke loose on your little patch of the Colorado Rockies. You were in the Ranger Station with Jessie waiting for Gabe when a call came in from some climbers that were stranded. Hal walked in the door just as Jessie was taking down the details of their location.

When you looked over at him you could tell he was stressed. He knew Gabe was due any time and he probably didn't want to be there.

"I'll go find them," Hal told Jessie, putting his hand out for the paper she pulled off her notepad.

Jessie glanced to you briefly and you nodded so she handed the paper over to him.

He narrowed his eyes between the two of you, "I don't need either of you making decisions for me either."

Rolling your eyes you shook your head, "No one is doing that Hal. Come on, I'll go with you."

"Fine."

He had been grumpy and out-of-sorts all day and you were getting tired of his waspish behavior. "Hal, you really need to grow up and move on," you finally snapped at him as he drove the Park Service Jeep a little faster than he should have up the road to the trail you needed to get to the rock face under the climbers location.

"What?!" He fired back.

"Gabe did everything he could. What if it had been me that had come to get you two and I'd lost Sarah? I would have made the same decision he did. Would you be treating me the same way?" Your eyes bore into the side of his head while he drove and you could see his jaw clenching and unclenching in anger.

Finally, he smacked a hand on the steering wheel of the Jeep and put the brakes on hard when you made it to the head of the trail. He didn't say a single word to you as he jumped out and slammed the door of the Jeep before going to the back to grab your gear. You caught your bag when he tossed it to you and followed him up the trail after he slammed the back door of the Jeep as well.

 

The two of you climbed the side of the mountain in utter silence except for the sound of the wind. When you made it onto the ledge where Gabe waited you thought Hal was going to throw Gabe off until he let his once friend go with an angry shake of his head and walked away snarling ‘live with it’ at Gabe. Strangely though when the three of you made it to where you expected to find stranded climbers and were met with guns in your faces instead the two of them dropped the animosity and kept you between them.  Brave idiots was all you could think with a shake of your head.

The ring leader of what you learned were actually thieves was named Qualen. He wanted you to lead his merry band of misfits to three cases full of money. It wasn’t without even more drama, Qualen kept saying he didn’t need three of you, until he asked if any of you were helicopter pilots. You had flown the Rescue Helicopters in the Coast Guard before transferring to the Park Service and Mountain Rescue. Admitting to being a pilot was what kept Qualen from shooting you or one of the two man-children with you.

Hal kept watching you with a strange look on his face. One mixed with fear, anger, and confusion and you couldn’t figure out why. When Qualen sent Gabe up the mountainside to retrieve the first case and his men set off an avalanche Hal pressed you into the cliff face with his body protecting you from the falling snow and debris. While you appreciated his misplaced need to be protective you weren’t fragile and it didn’t make any sense to you. You’d been on climbs with him before where you’d hit rough weather, falling rocks, small avalanches (if such a thing could be small, it was fucking scary when thousands of pounds of snow was advancing on you), and he’d never been quite so overshadowing. Maybe you were just used to how you were treated in the Coast Guard which tended more toward brittle tolerance.

You led them on to where the second case was supposed to be and what they found was not what they were expecting. Qualen sent his men off to look for Gabe while Hal taunted him until the female that Qualen called Kristel held the muzzle of her gun to the side of your head. Evening out your breathing you tried to calm your shaken nerves. It wasn't the first time you'd been at the end of the barrel of a gun but damnit you really didn't want to die today either. Suddenly Hal took a step in front of you and nudged you behind him and the gun was pointed at him instead. What the fuck was the idiot doing?

"Well, well, well," Qualen smiled as he looked between you two. "A little romance between Rangers? Isn't this quite the development?" Walking around Hal he went to grab you but Hal attempted to block him and Kristel moved closer with the gun in both hands now against the side of Hal's head. You could hear Hal's shuddering intake of breath.

"There's no romance, we work together," you told Qualen and felt Hal stiffen in front of you. Then whispering to him, "Hal, stop it. You're going to get yourself killed."

You were less afraid for yourself than you were him. Ten years in the Coast Guard had seen your share of Sea Pirates that were significantly more volatile than Qualen was. Not that you weren't scared to death, because you were, but you were thankful you had the training you did that enabled you to remain outwardly calm. Hal didn't have that, he was a regular guy who had never had to deal with people like these. The man was rightfully scared but yet trying very hard to be brave and protect you.

"I don't want anyone pointing a gun at you either Em," he countered quietly.

"Enough!!" Qualen shouted then snatched you from behind Hal and placed the muzzle of his gun to the side of your head. The look on Hal's face ratcheted from fear to sheer terror. "Take us to the third case...Or I'll blow her pretty little brains out..." Qualen left the threat hanging.

"Put the guns away and we'll lead you there," Hal countered with his hands up in the air.

You could see the pulsing of his artery in the side of his neck when he turned his head and the widening of his eyes as he looked at you. Confusion must have registered on your face when you felt Qualen move back then heard a loud bang.


	2. Fighting to Survive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNINGS FOR THIS CHAPTER: gunshot wound, blood, partial nudity, major angst, fear of death, fear of amputation

The sound of the gun going off scared you more than you cared to admit. Then when you felt a sharp pinch in your right knee that threw you forward onto the ground you cursed your luck but thanked whatever God was out there that it had been your knee and not the back of your head. Your hands braced your fall but your knee felt like it was on fire and when you looked back to Qualen he was holding a smaller pistol in his other hand and looking down at you.

Qualen's eyes lifted to Hal, "That's your one warning. You've got ten minutes to get her up, and then we're leaving with or without her."

Hal looked at Kristel who backed off and put her gun down before he crouched down next to you. You were already sitting up and trying to take off your jacket so you could remove the tank top under your shirt. If you still had your pack you would have had your med kit but that had been lost in the avalanche Qualen believed killed Gabe.

"What are you doing?" Hal practically yelled at you when you pulled your flannel shirt off down your arms and reached for the hem of your white tank top.

Rolling your eyes you looked at him, "I really don't want to be stuck on this ledge alone and the cleanest thing either of us has right now is this."

He hovered over you trying to keep the eyes of the other men off of you clad only in your, unfortunately chosen for the day, white lace see through bra. All you could do was shake your head at him, you really weren't worried about your modesty at the moment, and weren't really sure why he was. Handing him your tank top you shrugged your flannel back on and started buttoning it back up.

"This is going to hurt babe," Hal told you.

You didn't let the surprise at the endearment register on your face. Hal had never called you anything but your given name or his shortened version of it even on your failed date. Simply nodding at him you gave him a wane smile, "It's okay, I can take it."

"Toughest girl I know," he grinned at you and ripped your pant leg open to reveal the bleeding wound.

It didn't look like anything was broken or like it had hit a major blood vessel, but you had to stop the bleeding and cover the wound or you'd either slowly bleed out or get a nasty joint infection. You did grip Hal's forearm when he wrapped the mock bandage around your knee and pulled it tight before tying it off but other than that you didn't let on to how much pain you were in. Getting shot fucking hurt. When he helped you stand you were able to put just enough weight on it that you could walk but it was torture. If you got out of this you just knew you were in for hell from this wound.

"Alright now, move!" Qualen ordered while waving his gun at you both.

The wind picked up and snow started to swirl around you, Hall shook his head. “Can’t make it in this. Even if she weren’t wounded. It’s half a day there at best.”

“Fine then. Find us shelter,” Qualen snapped at him.

It was a long, arduous, and somewhat dangerous trek to the nearest shelter which was the Douglas Shaft Exhibit. Halfway there you were dizzy, nauseated, and very close to passing out and Hal had to help you make it to the cabin where you collapsed in front of the fireplace once he got the fire going.

At some point someone laid down behind you and pulled you back into a hard body. Opening your eyes you weakly turned your head to see Hal’s blue eyes looking down at you. He gave you a tired, worried smile, “Hey babe.”

“Hal?”

“I’m right here,” he whispered and pressed a kiss to the side of your head.

You had to be hallucinating, your head was swimming and your right knee was throbbing. It took all of your mental energy just to bring him into focus, he never wanted you, why was he here?

Hal shook his head, “That’s not true at all babe. I was stupid and just didn’t see what…who…had been right in front of me all along.”

Did you actually say that out loud? You felt your brow furrow as you tried to focus on him again then the muscle in your leg seized up and you sobbed miserably. He squinted his eyes closed and you saw a tear fall from his right eye. Reaching up you thumbed the tear away, “It’s okay Hal. You’ll be okay.”

His eyes snapped open and he looked at you. “Emily…”

You just patted his cheek then lost focus on him again.

A few hours later you woke up to find Hal sitting up and working to untie the knot on your makeshift bandage. “Hal,” you called to him weakly. “Don’t. If it’s clotted off, removing the bandage could start it bleeding again, and we don’t have anything else to bandage it with that we can spare, or anything to clean it with.”

“It should have been me,” he asserted.

You narrowed your eyes in confusion, “Should have been you what?”

“That was shot, not you,” Hal muttered and dropped his hands.

A snicker escaped you making him look at you sharply, “Yeah, and then I would have had to lug your heavy ass up the mountain trail.”

He grinned at you and laid back down behind you with his arm over your stomach, his hand gripped your waist, and his head propped up on his other hand. “I’m sorry for what happened a few months ago,” he whispered.

Taking a deep breath you let it out on a sigh as you looked up into his blue eyes, “I won’t lie and say it didn’t hurt, but I understand. You were with her for a year, probably thought you were going to marry her.”

“Maybe, but I meant what I said last night. You were right in front of me all along, and I chased after Sarah because I thought I needed a woman that wasn’t as tough as I am. She wasn’t right for me, I was forever pushing her into things she wasn’t comfortable with because when it was all said and done I needed someone more like me. That wasn’t fair to her. It wasn’t fair to me. And it sure as hell wasn’t fair to you when you were the one I really wanted,” his eyes met yours and he looked troubled by what he was probably just admitting to himself for the first time.

You patted his forearm and smiled wanely at him, “It’s cute that you think you’re tough.”

Hal rolled his blue eyes and smiled down at you as he dropped his arm and laid his head on his bicep closing his eyes. You tried your best to get comfortable, but your leg muscle seized again eliciting another sob.

His hand reached up to your face and his thumb stroked your cheek soothingly. “Shhhhhh….” He whispered to you, his lips scant millimeters from your ear. “I’ve got you. I promise I’ve got you.”

You laid there with his hand stroking your face, listening to the sound of him breathing next to you, and felt comforted in his quiet offer of what strength he had to give you. Unfortunately, your leg continued to throb and you sobbed silently for some time before you finally fell asleep again.

When you woke up it was to the sound of Hal arguing with someone and you realized he was arguing with Qualen about you. From the sound of it Qualen wanted to leave you behind because you were just going to slow him down, and Hal wasn’t having any of it. You opened your eyes to find the room spinning and you could barely fight back a dry heave. Pushing up on your elbow suddenly you leaned over and started to gag. Hal was immediately behind you with something cool pressed to your forehead which you realized was burning up. You knew it wouldn’t take long for the infection to set in with the bullet still in your knee, not being able to clean it, and having to put weight on it for nearly eight hours yesterday. You felt him shift something from his hand and then his bare hand cupped your forehead before he swore under his breath.

“Hal,” your voice was hoarse, weak. Some of that was from little to no food or water which you weren’t even sure you could hold down at that point. “As much as I hate to say it Qualen is right. You need to leave me here.”

“No babe, no. I’m not leaving you…” His voice was anguished as he spoke and you sat up slowly to see his terrified blue eyes fixed on you. He was afraid of losing you too.

You knew you looked frightful and grinned at him, “Do I look that bad?”

He leaned his forehead to yours and gripped the back of your neck with one strong hand, “You look like hell. But I’m not leaving you,” he was adamant, stubborn, and it was going to get him killed.

“You have to, for both of us. I can’t make it the rest of the way, and they won’t leave you behind to take care of me.”

“I can’t…” He whispered, shaking his head, a catch in his voice. “Don’t make me leave you behind. I can’t lose you when I just figured out I’m in love with you.”

“I’ll be right here when you get back,” you whispered back, your heart suddenly fluttered in sorrow. You weren’t sure you could promise that but you needed to reassure him so he could get away safely even if you didn’t for some reason. “When we get off this mountain maybe you can ask me out again?”

His blue eyes bore into yours, he knew you were hedging, knew you were trying to save his life. If he defied Qualen again the man might not care that he needed Hal to get to the third case. “When WE get off this mountain I’m going to ask you out again, say the right name, and make you scream mine when my tongue makes you cum,” he promised.

Nodding against his forehead you smiled, “Holding you to that tough guy.”

His lips pressed to your forehead and you heard him suck in a few quick breaths like he was trying to keep himself from crying and his hand moved to the back of your head while he rested his cheek on the crown of your head. “I’m coming back for you Em. I promise you that.”

All you could do was nod.

When they’ve gathered up their belongings and were ready to head out the door your eyes met Hal’s across the room.

“I love you too,” you mouthed to him and knew he understood because he pointed to his heart then back at you.

They left then but Hal left you with a few granola bars and bottles of water which you tried to take small sips and nibbles of. Before leaving he searched the cabin for anything you could use to change the wrap on your knee or clean it but there was nothing. By some miracle though he found an old bottle of penicillin one of the Rangers left behind. There were three capsules in the bottle and you took them one at a time over the next few hours praying that your stomach didn’t heave them back up. Even so if you didn’t get to a hospital soon you risked losing your leg and developing septicemia. Another several hours passed by and you were wracked with sorrow and pain and wound up crying yourself to sleep.

When you woke up again your eyes felt heavy with sleep, like you were drugged, you heard beeping, and someone was just barely snoring to the left of you somewhere. Someone’s hand was also holding your left hand. Your right knee felt huge and you couldn’t feel anything below it. You started to panic and your eyes flew open to see Hal was in a chair next to you and you were in a hospital bed. Sitting up as much as you could you pulled your hand from his and started pulling frantically at the blankets trying to pull them up over where your right leg should have been.


	3. What Are We Doing Here?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNINGS FOR THIS CHAPTER: injury recovery, discussion of feelings

Hal’s eyes snapped open when he heard you frantically pulling at your blankets. He looked at you in confusion for just a second before he jumped up and pressed a button on the side of your bed, “Emily! What’s wrong?” When he saw the panic in your eyes and what you were trying to do he seemed to understand and grabbed both of your hands until you looked at him, “Calm down babe. You just came out of surgery, it’s still there.”

You stared into his blue eyes, at the concern, affection, and dare you say love there. It felt like a million years but was really only a few seconds before you felt your chest stop heaving and your vision started to clear. In your panic you’d nearly started to hyperventilate. A nurse came in and looked at you and Hal.

“I’m so glad to see you awake. Dr. Campbell will be rounding on you shortly,” she told you and rearranged the wires and tubes you had nearly torn away in your panic. Only then did Hal let your hands go. “Do you need something for pain?”

“I can’t FEEL anything right now. I thought my leg was gone,” you told her in an almost sob that sounded like a petulant child.

“That’s normal, they had to do a nerve block when you came into the emergency room because you were in so much pain. With the anesthesia on top of that it might be a bit before you regain full feeling in your leg,” she smiled at you and left the room again.

You stared down the length of your body and then looked over at Hal who was watching you carefully with his arms crossed over his broad chest, “Can you uncover my leg please? I just need to see it, even if I can’t feel it.”

He nodded and reached out to push the blankets to the valley between your legs. It was there, all the way down to your toes, your leg was intact, even though your knee was wrapped and looked twice it’s normal size. You breathed a sigh of relief and leaned your head back with your eyes closed.

“I thought I’d lost you,” Hal said and his hand caressed your cheek.

Smiling you shook your head and turned so your lips pressed into his palm, “No. I’m tougher than I look.”

“Toughest girl I know,” he told you with some amusement.

“Hmmmmm…you’d think that was some kind of thing for you,” you teased him as you remembered the last time he said that to you.

He huffed at you and took your hand, “Emily, I appreciate that you’re a strong independent woman. I’m man enough to respect that and not stand in your way. But I’m also man enough to catch you when you fall.”

The two of you stared at each other while his words sunk in for you and you realized for the first time he looked like he’d been in a nasty fight and wasn’t putting any weight on his right leg. “What happened to you?”

“Ah, got in a fight with an asshole who kicked my bad knee,” he told you but just as you were about to ask for more details the doctor walked in.

 

Several weeks later you were laid back in Hal’s bed with your right knee propped up. Hal was reclining against the headboard on your left side with the TV remote in hand changing channels. There was still a lot unspoken between you. Like how you’d gone from friends to dating, to awkwardness, back to friends, and now to what? You weren’t sure. You knew you loved him. You had for a long time. Long before Sarah but you never tried to cross that line because you didn’t think you were what he wanted. Four months after Sarah’s death he seemed to notice you and was flirty when you worked or climbed together. As much as you wanted to believe he meant what he said in the cabin when he thought you might die you weren’t sure you could.

You’d been lucky. While you’d lost a lot of blood and had a nasty wound infection the bullet hadn’t damaged anything major and you didn’t develop a joint infection. With time and good physical therapy the doctor assured you that you’d be able to return to work in Mountain Rescue. The wounds from your surgery and the gunshot itself healed and you were able to walk again, slowly, but you could. It was probably long past time that you go home and leave Hal to his own thing.

“Hal?’

He turned his head to look at you, “Yeah babe?”

Pursing your lips you looked down at your hands which were folded in your lap, “I…” You needed to just be honest with Hal and tell him how you were feeling rather than hedge and guess at how he felt.

Somehow he must have sensed you were struggling with your feelings because he lifted his hand and turned the TV off then turned his head to look at you. Those blue eyes of his killed you. You’d never met a man in your life whose eyes literally made you want to drop your panties for him with just one look.

“I’m trying to understand how we got where we are right now. You calling me babe, me basically living with you,” you told him with a shake of your head. Tears pooled in the corners of your eyes and you blinked quickly to keep them from falling, “What are we doing?”

He huffed out a breath and sat up as he ran his hands through his unruly brown curls. His hair was starting to get long again and it made him all the more attractive. All you could think about was grabbing his curls while his mouth was on your…

When he turned suddenly on the bed to look at you he gave you a funny look, almost like he might have heard what you were thinking. “Emily, I was serious when I told you I’m in love with you. It took me a long time to realize it but I have been for a long time. I pushed you away because I didn’t think I could handle being with a woman who could compete with me.” He shook his head with a frown, “I was an ass and a fool for doing that. As angry as I was at Gabe I really considered his relationship with Jessie when I realized she is a lot like you and Gabe handles it just fine. You didn’t need someone that was going to try to smother you. You need a man who can be proud of you for everything you are and encourage that. I didn’t know if I could be that man for you.”

“Hal, I’m not strong all the time. Just because I don’t show it on the outside doesn’t mean I’m not scared or unsure on the inside. To be very honest until you I had never met a man I wanted to open myself up to and be vulnerable with,” you told him. Shaking your head you reached down and rubbed your right calf, “If anyone else had been in the hospital room with me when I thought my leg was gone I would have held it all in until the room was empty and probably had a major earth shattering freak out. All alone.”

He nodded once with his lips pursed and his eyes focused on his hands in front of him, “I think we’re friends who fell in love, went the long fucking way around it, and are now in a relationship.”

Screwing up your face you gave him a bemused look, “It sucks I had to get shot to get us here.”

If you weren’t looking right at him when he did it you would have missed the widening of his eyes with the barely perceptible nod indicating he was still having some trouble dealing with that. “Yeah, I’m sorry about that too.”

“Stop it Hal. I’m fine,” you told him with a smile as you looked at his profile. It looked like his nose might have been broken again, it was just slightly more crooked then before everything went to hell.

His lips curled up in smile, “Toughest girl I know.” He turned his head to look at you again, “How’s your knee feeling?”

“Not bad, I’m not running any marathons but I could walk around the block,” you told him with a snicker.

He looked at your knee intently for a minute before lifting his eyes to meet yours. What you saw there made your heart skip a beat.


	4. Second Chance to Get It Right

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNINGS FOR THIS CHAPTER: smut, delayed orgasm, cunnilingus and fingering, sex

Hal didn’t hesitate long after that before turning fully toward you and reaching out to the waistband of the sleep shorts you were wearing and started to tug them down. Your pussy clenched at the mere thought of being exposed to his eyes again.

“Hal?” You grabbed his hand.

His blue eyes met yours and all you saw in them was desire, “Em, do you trust me?”

Smiling you nodded at him, “With my life Hal.”

He dropped his eyes and took a deep breath at your words, “Trust me now?”

You understood what he was asking. He wanted another chance and you were going to give it to him because you knew he’d never meant to hurt you. Hal Tucker was also a man very much worth taking a chance on.

“I haven’t had a wax since I was shot Hal,” you admitted with a blush as he pulled the waistband down to expose half the skin of your belly.

Shaking his head he chuckled, “Damn babe, I don’t care about that.”

Rather than say anything you lifted your hips so he could pull the shorts down your legs. You caught his smirk when he realized you weren’t wearing any panties underneath them and sat up to pull your t-shirt over your head leaving you naked in front of him for the second time. When you reclined back on your elbows those eyes of his ran over your body, from your toes to your eyes and back, then he moved to settle between your legs. His hand pushed your left leg as far away from your center as he could get it and held it there as his other arm wrapped under your right thigh and he rested his hand on your hip. You watched Hal’s face as he looked at your pussy as if for the first time. That time he’d had your pants off and his mouth on you so quickly you weren’t sure he’d really looked at you. This time though. He was really looking.

“God Em, you’re beautiful,” he whispered and then his mouth was on you.

His tongue circled your lips a few times then ran down the length of your slit and flicked your entrance where he lapped at your wetness a few seconds before inserting one long finger inside of you. THAT was new you couldn’t help but think as your hands fisted in the sheets and your back arched off the bed with a moan. When you opened your eyes again and looked down at him you found he was watching you. Hal made sure your eyes followed his while he deliberately flicked his tongue out slowly to your clit then curled that wicked finger he was slowly thrusting in and out of you. He tortured you like that for what felt like forever, his tongue barely grazing your clit while his finger slowly made it’s way to your g spot and back out. With each flick or thrust you mewled and when you were just on the verge of what felt like it might be the best orgasm of your life he suddenly sat up.

“Hal!” You practically begged him while you watched him smile and place a hand on each side of your body before his mouth was on one of your breasts. His tongue flicked your nipple, teeth nipped it, then his mouth gently sucked at it to sooth the sting. He was still between your legs so you couldn’t get any friction on your clit which tingled while he worked your nipple to a tight little bud before moving to the other one and doing the exact same thing. You were breathing heavily and moaning softly when he raised his head. Hal’s tongue running over his bottom lip was almost your undoing but he backed off again.

“God Hal, you are the king of the denied orgasm,” you choked out in a whisper which just made him chuckle.

“Don’t you worry babe, I’m not denying anything. Just delaying a little bit,” he told you and got off the bed.

Hal reached over his head and whipped his t-shirt off to the floor then dropped his shorts down over his lean hips. He wasn’t wearing any underwear either and the sight of him standing in front of you completely naked to your eyes made your body tingle like it was on fire. The man was magnificent. His muscles were well defined right down to his abdominal lines, and he had a smattering of hair covering his chest down over his abdomen to his cock which was hard, thick, and long. It was certainly bigger than you expected and you wondered, just for a second, if he’d even fit inside of you. You watched him as he opened his nightstand drawer and pulled a condom out of it which he opened and rolled on. When he climbed back onto the bed between your legs you were throbbing in anticipation of him. He rested his forearms on either side of you and cupped your face in his hands before kissing you. Your breath caught in your throat and your body felt flushed when you felt him position the tip of his cock at your entrance and stay there while he kissed your lips. Then his lips moved down over your jawline to the sensitive side of your neck and to your collarbone.

“Oohhh Hal…” you moaned when he finally slid slowly inside of you until your hips met.

What he was doing to you wasn’t fucking, he wasn’t even just having sex with you. Hal was making love to you which wasn’t something you ever thought any man had done anytime in your life until him. His thrusts were slow and deliberate with a little grind of his hips each time your flesh met. Any skin he could reach with his lips he did and he kept eye contact with you or watched your connection as he slid in and out of you, but he never closed his eyes. You could see the emotion in his blue eyes while he made love to you. See that he in fact wanted you, desired you, and really did love you.

When your body tensed around him and your back arched off the bed he caught your moan with a kiss and shared breath with you as you moaned his name. He held you tightly while your body shuddered under him, spasming down around his cock in waves, and when your body relaxed and you softened around him he thrust erratically a few times until he reached his own orgasm. Hal’s body tensed and he threw his head back with a groan as he thrust hard one last time then you felt his cock twitching inside of you as he came in spurts. When his balls were empty and his body relaxed his fiery blue eyes were on yours once more.

“You feel amazing Emily,” he told you and leaned down to kiss you once again.

“God Hal, I don’t think I’ve ever felt anyone like you,” you whispered on a sigh.

You kissed a few more times before he had to get up to dispose of the condom leaving you alone momentarily. Your entire body was covered in a light sheen of sweat and your legs were shaking from the intensity of your orgasm. When he came back from the bathroom he paused in the doorway and smiled at you while his eyes roved over your body.

“Babe, I can’t tell you how sexy you look right now. Lying in my bed, spread open for me, your hair wild, and knowing your pussy is humming because of me,” he told you with a smug grin.

Laughing you put a hand over your eyes with your elbow stuck up in the air, “I’m not sure if I should be embarrassed or totally turned on by that.”

“What’s embarrassing about a woman being well loved?” He walked over to the bed and sat to the side of your knee which somehow was still propped up on the pillow he’d put it on before the two of you got into bed to watch TV. The ice pack had fallen off though.

Looking at him through the fingers of your hand you knew you were blushing, “I look like hell Hal. My knee is fucked and propped up on a pillow, I haven’t shaved, I’ve gained a few too many pounds over the last month. I could go on.”

You could see him rolling his eyes with an affectionate smile and he grabbed your arm and pulled it down, grasping your hand with his and holding it up to his heart. “You. Look. Beautiful. To. ME.” He emphasized each word with a tilt of his head or widening of his eyes. “And I love you.”

Your eyes narrowed at him and you realized he was genuinely serious. You had never been overly self-conscious, you’d always felt if a man wanted to be with you he’d accept your flaws because they were what made you real. For some reason though you had been self-conscious with Hal because you felt like you had to compete with the more feminine women who were drawn to him. Then when he started dating Sarah you didn’t figure there was a chance anymore anyway. After her death when he started showing interest in you it made you think just maybe there might have been a chance, but when he said Sarah’s name…Well, any self-confidence you had was shot. Now you were realizing it had just taken him a while to realize he was man enough to stand behind your strength and independence without feeling emasculated.

You squeezed his hand and smiled up at him, “I love you too Hal.” He leaned down and you pressed yourself up to meet his lips in another sweet kiss.

“How’s your knee? I was trying to be gentle and not hurt you,” he told you and picked up your ice pack from the floor.

“It’s sore but that’s to be expected,” you told him and pushed yourself up so you could lean back against the headboard.

Neither of you made any effort to cover your nakedness and it felt intimate and right somehow. Like this was where you were meant to be. And when that thought crossed your mind your heart sped up just slightly and you felt tears trying to spring to your eyes. He just put a hand to your cheek and kissed you again before taking the ice pack and returning a few minutes later with another one, some ibuprofen, and a glass of water. You went back to watching TV, this time with Hal’s arm around your shoulders, but neither of you bothered to get dressed. When your fingers playing over the muscles of his stomach prompted his cock to harden again you got the chance to lick and suck him until he was begging underneath you. And when you were later laying in each other’s arms both of your wandering fingers and lips led to another round of slow lovemaking that brought you both to shuddering orgasm.

Several months later you had given up the lease on your apartment and moved into Hal’s house with him. Hal had let go of his animosity towards Gabe and their friendship was returning to where it was before Sarah’s death. You had returned to work, though since Frank was killed you took over his position as pilot, and you and Jessie shared those duties. While both you and Jessie were decent climbers the truth was Gabe and Hal were the best at what they did. Now that they had resolved their differences you knew your little piece of the Colorado Rockies was safe.

Your relationship with Hal continued to grow and you were never happier than you were when you were with him. And while the road to being together had been rocky at times in the end you were never more thankful for not giving up and taking that second chance on Hal Tucker.

**Author's Note:**

> If you like my work kudos are appreciated. If you love it comments are wonderful. If you have constructive criticism or questions let's talk. If you leave blatantly rude or negative comments, know that no hate is allowed here and will be deleted. And if you read my work and are too shy to interact right now, know that's okay too.


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